Chapter 566: Hunting Wind and Shadow

"At the time, the county magistrate wasn't you—if it had been you, even if Yang Ji were as powerful as he was, I'd have dared to try. But back then, it was Magistrate Wu—who was I to speak up?"

Pan Yun rubbed her chin in thought: "That doesn't make sense. Nine years ago, the late emperor was still alive, wasn't he?"

"No, no, no—the late emperor was already gone by then; it was the Zhengtong first year," Li the Elder hurriedly said. "At that time, Yang Shoufu had been entrusted with the regency; all court affairs were controlled by the three Grand Secretaries Yang. Magistrate Wu visited the Yang household every few days to pay respects to Yang Ji. The Yang family's power was immense then."

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow, smiling faintly: "Yang Shiqi indulged his son in seizing power—truly a grave crime."

The county magistrate frowned.

Li the Elder opened his mouth, fell silent for a moment, then whispered: "I heard that the burden of Great Ming rested entirely on the three Grand Secretaries Yang. The new emperor was young, the northwest, southwest, and coastal regions were unstable. It's said Yang Shoufu was so busy he often couldn't eat three meals a day on time—how could he possibly know what was happening in Ji'an, a thousand li away?"

Yang Ji often boasted about how Yang Shoufu was diligent and loyal, relied heavily on by the Empress Dowager and the new emperor. But precisely because of that, we all knew: Yang Ji's actions in Ji'an were almost certainly unknown to Yang Shoufu."

Pan Yun leaned in close and asked in a low voice: "Then why didn't you report him to Yang Shoufu?"

Li the Elder smiled bitterly: "Strangers don't interfere in family matters. Yang Shoufu may be upright, but he's also a powerful minister—and a father. When push comes to shove, could he really abandon his son to act for us?"

"If he doesn't act for us, and we report it anyway, how do we know he won't silence us?"

Pan Yun understood: "A calculation of power—yet so many people died silently in that pit, and for over a decade, no one found out."

The county magistrate grew suspicious: "Is this the only mass grave?"

Li the Elder shuddered and quickly clarified: "My lord, I only know of this one—I stumbled upon it by accident. I know nothing about others. Truly, I don't."

The county magistrate grunted: "And then? What did you do after you found the grave?"

Li the Elder swallowed hard and whispered: "I… I later had someone quietly watch the grave. Then, following the traces, I traced it to one of Yang Ji's country villas—right at the one in Sanjing Village."

The county magistrate knew that villa—he had been invited there as a guest while Yang Ji was still alive.

The thought of having once drunk and amused himself at a murder scene sent a chill through him.

"I originally planned to keep this leverage for a critical moment—but after watching for so long, I noticed every time a corpse appeared, it was always after one of Yang Ji's secret banquets. The night before, several wealthy gentlemen and young masters who were close to Yang Ji would enter."

"At first, it was only once a year, on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Later, it became twice a year—Mid-Autumn and Winter Solstice. Even officials from the prefecture came to attend. That's when I stopped sending people to watch."

The county magistrate: "The leverage became a hot coal."

Li the Elder smiled bitterly: "I wished I could gouge out my own eyes and pretend I never knew."

The county magistrate and Pan Yun both snorted coldly.

The county magistrate pulled out a sheet of paper and said gravely: "Write down the names of everyone you know who attended these banquets."

Li the Elder obediently picked up his brush and wrote.

The county magistrate then turned to the county constable: "And you? How did you find out? And how much do you know?"

The county constable knelt, head bowed: "In Zhengtong third year, a family surnamed Liu from Liuxi Village reported a case: their daughter had been taken away by a merchant surnamed Zhao, and they feared the worst. I led men to investigate. The man called himself a merchant, but he had once been a minor clerk in Ninghua, Fujian. His brother-in-law served in the Fujian navy. He came to Ji'an claiming to trade, but in truth, he was here to broker connections between his brother-in-law and Yang Ji. Liu Xiaohong was a courtesan he had bought out from Wan Chun Pavilion to give as a gift to Yang Ji."

The county constable spoke in detail: "Liu Xiaohong was exceptionally beautiful and still a virgin courtesan. The madam of Wan Chun Pavilion had planned to make her the next flower queen, so she kept her locked away. This Zhao man paid a huge sum to buy her out."

"He told Liu Xiaohong's parents he intended to take her as a concubine. Both the parents and Liu Xiaohong believed him. But then Liu Xiaohong vanished. For three months, no trace. When they went to demand answers, the Zhao man flatly denied knowing them."

"At first, they would have accepted if he simply refused the match—but when he denied knowing them, they grew suspicious. So they secretly followed him, suspecting he had murdered her."

The county magistrate: "And then?"

"I only confirmed that Zhao took Liu Xiaohong to the Sanjing Villa. Beyond that, I couldn't investigate further," the county constable said, head bowed. "But I grew curious and kept private watch—and… I noticed that in past years, around Mid-Autumn, a group of courtesans and young male entertainers entered the Sanjing Villa—but the number who left never matched. One or two always disappeared…"

The county magistrate, seeing he had stopped, asked sharply: "And then?"

"My men weren't careful. Magistrate Wu found out. And I was transferred away."

The county magistrate suddenly remembered: the county constable had been promoted only after he arrived in Ji'an. Before that, he had been reduced to managing a dilapidated post station.

He had risen because he solved a cross-county bandit case—prompted by an old constable, he pulled suspects from the station, cracked the case, captured the bandits, and was promoted to patrol head, then rapidly to county constable.

!

The county magistrate: "Well, looks like not only am I finished—you're finished too."

As a county constable promoted by the former magistrate, even if he escaped blame, his future would be bleak.

The county constable, filled with guilt, kowtowed: "My lord, it was my failure—I failed to inform you of this case when Yang Ji fell."

The county magistrate's face was expressionless: "Why didn't you speak up then?"

It was only two months apart—if you had exposed the case then, you wouldn't have been guilty—you'd have earned merit.

Li the Elder finished writing the list and handed it over tremblingly, whispering: "Maybe because of this."

The county magistrate reached out and took it. Seeing the names—all familiar—he felt ice flood his veins.

Pan Yun leaned in to read, memorized the names, then asked: "What's special about these people?"

The county magistrate folded the paper without expression and slipped it into his sleeve: "Nothing special—except two who were already imprisoned due to Yang Ji's downfall, the rest are untouched. One is the Vice Prefect of Ji'an Prefecture. Two are officials from the Provincial Administration Commission. When Yang Ji fell, even the entire Provincial Administration Commission was demoted and investigated—but these two remained completely unscathed."

Pan Yun: "What ranks do they hold?"

The county magistrate said nothing.

Pan Yun rubbed her chin: "You don't have to tell me—I can guess. Probably Censor or Assistant Censor, third or fourth rank officials—or maybe Jingli or Dushi, sixth or seventh rank. It can't be Zhaomo or Siyu, eighth or ninth rank clerks, can it?"

Li Wenying: "Damn, you might as well just list every single official in the Provincial Administration Commission." (End of chapter)